Fuse



Dec. 2, 1924. l 1,517,810

s. WILEY y FUSE Filed April ll, 1.925

ATTORNEY S T E S P A T SAMUEL WILEY, OF MET'UGHEN, NEW JERSEY.

FUSE.

Application filed April 11, 1923. Seria1 No. 631,423.

(FILED UNDER THE ACT 0F MARCH 3, 1883, 22 STAT. L., 625.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMU-EL WILEY, a citizen of the United States, and a `resident of Metuchen, county of Middlesex, and State of New Jersey, have invented an Improvement in Fuses, ot' which the following is a specification.

The invention described herein may be used by the Government, or any of its oii'- cers or employees in prosecution of work for the Government, or by any other person in the United States, wlthout payment to me of any royalty thereon, in4 accordance n with the act of March 3, 1883.

The subject of this invention is a fuse intended primarily for use in grenades, though not restricted to such use.

In devising this fuse it has been my endeavor to provideone in which the striker is incapable of functioning during handling or transporting, not only by reason of the fact that the striker is locked in safe posi tion but because the striker operating means is wholly inoperative. I have also provided means for retaining the fuse inoperative even after priming the primer until the lapse of a predetermined period of time and then only operative upon impact within a predetermined time after the lapse of such period.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention resides in the novel arrangement and combination of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed may be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

A practical embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of a hand grenade having a fuse constructed in accordance with my invention, the tensioning lever thrown to operative position;

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 3.

ig. 3 is -a plan view of the same, portions broken away and the -tensioning lever moved to horizontal position.

Referring to the drawings by numerals of reference; As shown in the drawings, a grenade 1 filled with explosive 2 in which is embedded a booster casing 3 carrying a booster charge 4 and, asshown, into the end of which is threaded bouchon casing 5, having a chamber 6 closed by closure plate 7, which is formed with an` aperture for the reception of a primer 8. Carried by the bouchon casing and projecting into the. booster casing is a fuse tube 9 formed with an extending hooked end 10 which passes through an aperture in an unbalanced element or vcounterweight 11, seated within the chamber 6. The engagement of the hooked end with the counter weight retains the tube 9 in position and the hooked end is retained in' contact with the counter weight by means of combustible material 12 which is packed into the aperture of the counterweight. The inwardly projecting end of the tube is surrounded by a sleeve 13, the inner end of which is formed with an annular {iange which may seat against a nut 14 threaded on the inner end of the tube. The sleeve is retained in close engagement with the nut by means of a coil spring 15 which surrounds the sleeve and one end of which abuts against the bouchon casing while the other end contacts the annular flan e of the sleeve.

Seated within recess 16 in t e bouchon casing is a striker 17 mounted on a semi-cylindrical shaft 18 and the ends of a lever 19 which lever is also formed of semi-cylindrical material; the ends of the shaft and lever being journaled in the sides of the bouchon casing defining the recess. A coiled .spring 18 surrounds the shaft 18 and has one end anchored to the shaft while the other end presses against the striker 17.

The usual safety lever 2() hooks over the lip of the bouchon casing, as at 21, and is provided with lugs 22 adapted to be bent over the tensioning lever -19 to hold the same in safe position.

When the device is to be put to use the lugs 22 are released and the tensioning lever swung over to the position' shown in Fig. 1 in which position it is held by the bosses or lugs 23 projecting from the sides of the bouchon casing and over which the lever 19 snaps.. This movement' of the lever will cause a tensioning of the spring 18 so that it will then be in condition to operate the striker to prime the primer.

The flash from the primer will ignite vlil the combustible material 1Q which serves as a lock between the fuse-.tube and counter- Weight and, vvheny this material has been consumed, impact ofthe grenade Will cause the counter Weight to release the tube Which Will then be forced into the booster casing by the spring 15, thereby igniting the booster charge and causing explosion of the device. l

I claim:

1. A bouchon assembly, embodying a casing formed with a chamber, a plate. for closing the chamber carrying a primer, a fuse attached to the casing and comprising a tube having a hooked end projecting into the chamber, a counter Weight Within the chamber provided with an aperture through Which the.hooked end passes, said counter Weight engaged b v the hooked end, a combustible material within the aperture and normally holding the hooked end in engagement With the counter Weight, a sleeve surrounding the tube and a resilient element surrounding the sleeve for forcing the tube from the casing When the hooked end is released.

2. A bouchon assembly, embodying a casing formed with a chamber, a closure for the chamber provided with a primer seat, a counter Weight in the chamber, a fuse, combustible material holding the fuse connected to the counter Weight and means for expelling the fuse When the bouchon strikes an objective after the combustible material is consumed.

3. A bouchon assembly, embodying a casing, a closure. for the casing having a primer seat7 a movable fuse holding element Withinthe casing, a fuse, combustible material connecting the fuse and element and means for expelling the fuse when the bouchon strikes an objective after the combustible material has been consumed.

el. A bouchon assembly, embodying a casing, a fuse carried by the casing and held connected the-reto by combustible material and means for expelling the fuse when the bouchon strikes an objective after the combustible material has been consumed.

5. A fuse. embodying a tube formed with a reduced hooked end, a counterweight and combustible material retaining the hooked end in engagement with the counterweight.

6. A fuse, embodying a tube formed With a hooked end, an unbalanced element engaged by the hooked end and combustible material retaining the hooked end in engagement With the unbalanced element.

7. A fuse embodying normally separated combustible elements, means for retaining the elements separated locked against release by combustible material and free to be released on impact after the combustible material has been consumed.

SAMUEL WILEY. 

